Hamra Enterprises buys 30 Wendy’s in Boston area

Last edited 1:23 p.m., Nov. 12, 2015

Springfield-based Hamra Enterprises has finalized the purchase of 30 Wendy’s restaurants in the Boston area as the fast-food chain slims down its corporate ownership in brick-and-mortar stores.

Hamra Enterprises, which operates 35 Wendy’s franchises in Missouri and Kansas via Wendy's of Missouri Inc., nearly doubled its holdings of the fast-food chain with the purchase for undisclosed terms from The Wendy’s Co. (Nasdaq: WEN) subsidiary Wendy’s International LLC. The purchased restaurants stretch from downtown Boston to Portsmouth, N.H., according to a news release.

The deal is part of Wendy’s Co.’s plans to reduce corporate holdings to 5 percent, or about 315 fast-food shops. The company intends to sell 280 restaurants in the second half of this year and another 260 in 2016. The chain comprises some 6,500 restaurants in 29 countries and U.S. territories, according to a separate release from the Dublin, Ohio-based company.

Hamra Enterprises, which operates around 16 Panera Bread bakeries in Boston through Boston Bread LLC, now owns 134 restaurants in six states, employing over 5,000, according to its release.

The Springfield company also operates:
    •    Chicago Bread LLC, a Panera franchisee in the greater Chicago area;
    •    SJH Hotels LLC, which operates a Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites in Lewisville, Texas; and
    •    Hamra Noodles, a Noodles & Co. franchisee in Missouri and New England.

Founded in 1975 by Sam Hamra, the company began operating Wendy’s franchises a year later, according to the release.